London - Fifty in Style

French Rules
I guess I should have celebrated my birthday with a typical English Sunday roast, but nope, not me.  French all the way.  The Frenchies are paying for it, so it seemed only right.

London - Back in the Fancy

Marylebone
On the other side of the scale, away from those neighborhoods that an English colleague said were for the "common" people (yes he actually said that out loud),is Marylebone.  It's pronounced MAR-LEE-BONE, which I tried to explain to the Costa Ricans without success.  "Just stop looking at the letters and listen to what I'm saying Mar-Lee-Bone."

London Bus Rides - Part 2

East End - Shoreditch

I asked my Engliish colleagues which neighborhoods I should avoid and then made sure I visited each and every one of them.  Brixton was to be avoided at all costs and close behind was the East End - which is said to be rough around the edges.  I took a bus from Brixton to Shoreditch and found it to be in the middle of the classic gentrification.  

London - Bus Rides Part 1

Brixton
We are staying in the posh neighborhood of Kensington.  If you only walked around here you could be fooled into thinking all of London is dripping with money.  I sought out some regular neighborhoods by bus, the first one the epicenter of rioting in the early 80's.  Much of the music I listened to at that time was coming out of London and it referenced those riots in Brixton.

London - The Sun

It Actually Exists!
Today, for the first time in five days, the sun peeked out for an hour.  I ran outside to get a shot for posterity, I may not see it again any time soon.  I've taken many walks around Kensington and I must admit, it is a beautiful, if impossibly expensive, place.

London - Stealing

Meet My Fellow Thieves

Joseph, Jose and Ileana - my colleagues from Costa Rica.  We're here in SW London, smiling, pretending, hand-shaking and lunch-sharing.  Meanwhile, we are secretly figuring out how to steal jobs from London and put them in Costa Rica without upsetting the British unions.  It's a crap job.  I am not particularly proud to be involved in it.

London - Museums

The V&A
The Victoria and Albert is the largest museum of design and decorative arts.  It wasn't my first choice but when I saw the line to get into the Natural History museum, I made the most of it.  Turned out to be very interesting.

London - Touchdown in Kensington

Trying to Adjust the Brain
I've never been a big fan of London and coming here from Tokyo doesn't help.  I had to have a talk with myself this morning to adjust my attitude.  Few get to travel for work, I am staying and eating for free so make the most of it, I told myself.  I am staying near the Earl's Court tube station in SW London, a ten minute walk from Hyde park.  This is a shot from my hotel.

Tokyo - Japanese Practice

Occasional Stuttering Success
I spent a bit of time before the trip learning the two Japanese alphabets - Hiragana and Katakana.  Each has about 100 letters and both are used along with Chinese Kanji (symbols) in written Japanese.  As a result, I would stop and stare at signs like this, an advertisement written in both Katakana (first line) and Hiragana (second line.)  I translates into "starting point" though I have no idea what the chickens have to do with it.

Tokyo - Meiji Jingu

Tokyo - Meiji Jingu
The Meiji Shrine was built in the middle of Yoyogi park to commemorate Emperor Meiji and his wife.

Tokyo - Smoking

Tokyo - Skoking
They've cracked down on smoking over the years in Japan.  There are many more no smoking signs and fewer places to smoke.  They warn you in Japanese and English, so there are no excuses for breaking the rules.

Tokyo - Food

Tokyo - Feed
We tried a wide variety....  This is us in a bar that measured 7 feet by 4 feet - I am not exaggerating.  Smallest bar I've ever seen.

Nagano - Close Cousins

Nagano - Visiting Some Cousins
We took a bullet train into the mountains to a town close to Nagano.  There, we met up with some close relatives.